The present invention relates to methods for effecting the controlled release of functional organoleptic materials, and more specifically, it relates to methods for imparting desired flavors and/or aromas in a controlled manner to products such as smoking tobacco products, air fresheners, and the like through the use of flavor-bearing articles, to generally baculiform flavor-bearing articles, and to methods for the preparation and use thereof.
It is frequently desirable to impart flavors and aromas or a combination of flavor and aroma to various consumable and other products. The flavor and aroma compositions and ingredients are by their very nature volatile, and in some cases, fleeting. There is thus always the need to provide the aromatic flavoring and aroma compositions in a form which will permit storage prior to use, but which will release the compositions at a desired time.
As an instance of such a need, the use of flavoring materials in tobacco products such as cigarettes, cigars, pipe tobacco, and snuff is a practice of long standing in the industry. Flavoring compositions were probably originally added to the tobacco itself. The flavors, for instance, were put into an aqueous solution or combined with glycerol and sprayed on the leaf or onto the chopped leaf, a process also known as top-dressing, and then dried.
There are of course many routes for the addition of flavor materials to tobacco products. They can be added directly to snuff products and to pipe tobaccos when these products are in their final form. In the case of cigars, the flavors can be added to the wrapper leaf, to the filler, or to both. In the case of cigarettes, the flavor has also been incorporated, in conjunction with the tobacco itself, the cigarette paper, the glue which is used to fasten the paper, and by injecting the flavoring material into the filter pieces or in some instances by putting flavor pellets into the filters during manufacture of the cellulosic filter tow.
One drawback with some of these prior art approaches is that the burning of the glue, paper and the like can create problems with the flavoring material. As the flavor material burns, it may produce unwanted flavors or sidestream aromas and the like. Also, in some instances, the choice of flavoring composition components can be limited by the necessity to avoid the formation of potentially harmful compounds.
Placement of some or all of the flavoring compositions in the filter can obviate some of the problems incurred in putting desired flavor materials in the tobacco, paper, or glue of the cigarette. It has been found, however, that components of the flavoring composition are lost from the filters during storage. Indeed, the largest proportion of the flavor composition can be lost over a period of time. This results in the need to remove the product from consumer channels or to use much larger quantities of flavoring composition or both.
In one approach to the solution of the problem, pellets containing flavoring material have been incorporated into cigarette filters. For example, in menthol cigarettes the menthol has been incorporated into carriers and placed in the filters. The results are adequate, although shelf life is still shorter than is desired. The problem becomes more acute, however, when it is desired to use a flavor like spearmint. In order to get the desired spearmint flavor, materials such as carvone are used, and it is found that the carvone is very volatile, so that it does not remain in the filter for a sufficiently long storage period prior to use.
Other considerations are encountered in the preparation of other articles designed to impart aromas or flavors to goods or to environments. One example of such uses is air fresheners. Many different methods have been developed for the purpose. One of the early forms was a cellulosic or other textile non-woven article which was soaked in or otherwise treated with an aroma composition. It was necessary tightly to package such articles so that the aroma material would not be lost, and of course once the packaging is removed the article will release the aroma composition at an uncontrolled rate until exhausted.
Another type of air freshener involved a wick in a bottle. This enabled the user to control the release of aroma material on an on-off basis by opening the bottle or other container and deploying the wick to permit the aroma material to diffuse into the air. The container is generally heavy and, if of glass, breakable. Also it had to be deployed on a generally flat, horizontal surface, lest it fall sideways and permit the aroma material to flow out around the wick, so that there are limitations in placing it in the space where it is to be used.
There are many other schemes and devices for use in air fresheners. The use of a plastic container with a permeable membrane across the top is known. Such a device is limited in the amount of material it can deploy by the surface area of the membrane at the top. Once again, a horizontal surface is required for the device and there is the hazard that the fluid in the interior will simply flow out through the membrane if the container is turned on its side. Scented plastics have been shown, such as those in Chemical Abstract 110:116287t.
Yet another instance of the use of such aromatic compositions is in the field of laundering and detergent products where it is desired to have fragrances released during the wash, rinse, and/or drying cycles. The need in this instance is to release one or more aromatic compositions during one or more of the laundering cycles. One method for accomplishing this is set forth in U.S. Pat. No. 4,842,761 which utilizes matrices of different polymers.